1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for booting computer systems.
2. Background of the Related Art
After turning on power to a computer (or “compute node”), the computer must go through a booting process before being ready for normal operations. The booting process may be controlled by a basic input output system (BIOS) that is stored in read only memory (ROM) and contains an initial set of instructions for performing a power-on self-test, identifying and initializing peripheral devices, and loading an operating system from mass memory.
In computer systems having multiple compute nodes, storage devices and other components of various types (a “heterogeneous system”), any particular component of the computer system may require the services of another component of the computer system, or require information available from another component of the computer system. Accordingly, booting a large heterogeneous computer system can take a considerable amount of time before every component of the computer system has reached full functionality. Errors or timeouts occurring during the boot process may require the involvement of a system administrator to guide the process forward, such that the boot process is not truly autonomous.